Friday, November 26, 2010

Bitchslapped over Thanksgiving

Forgive me Father for I have sinned, and not for the first time. In retrospect my cynicism over Thanksgiving, expressed both on this blog and on social networking sites, was ill advised in a nation that has embraced me to its puffy turkey breast.

My Facebook posting provoked a few responses reiterating the core values of Thanksgiving - God, family, the star spangled banner and turkey. I feel like I have been bitch slapped by 50 states.

I now realize I violated these core values by mentioning Indians, wigwams and such like.

And people looked at me in a funny way at work today. Or maybe I was just paranoid. Certainly the server at Starbucks was less friendly than usual. I'm not sure if it was because of my anti Thanksgiving postings. For a start, I don't think she knows my name. Even so.

I mean Thanksgiving wasn't so bad, even if the baby did scream for three hours. There were no members of the extended family round here this year and hence no arguments or accidents with knives.

Heck there's even some wine left for the weekend. I'm prepared to give Thanksgiving the benefit of the doubt.

Thanx Lidia - always good to rant but I should surprise you by writing about how much I love Christmas. No really I'm cool with it Robyn - yes, you have already followed me twice; afraid I don't even know whata blog roll is. Thanks Tim - oh funny football in motorcycle helmets?

I think we all feel the need to point out at least once in our lives that the premise of the holiday is bullshit. But, ya know, then its time to eat.

There's lots of ways to look at anything like the natives gave us turkeys and we shot them etc. Hell, I'm pretty sure the shirt I'm wearing right now was made by little asian children but I don't let it bother me. I just feel more cozy when I'm cloaked in suffering.

Also, while people around the world know America for it's jackassery they don't realize how fun it can be being a jackass sometimes and saying whatever you want no matter how unpopular it is. Especially if you do it in a patronizing way and call them a bunch of morons. Now you didn't go that far, but now that you've got that citizenship in your possession feel free to give it a try sometimes. It's liberating and you'll find people are more tolerant of it than you would think.

Hi David.I didn't think blogger actually lets you follow twice. Shall I unfollow you (just once)? :)The blog roll is just the list of blogs a person follows, displayed (if one chooses to) on the main page. I'm not confident of the terms myself. I was being silly, but I did add your blog to my main page listing. It's an honor, since I'm following so many blogs, and I only keep a select few on the list. It gives your blog more exposure too, when someone drops by. ;0) xo

It is indeed Germany.Sounds like you had a fantastic Thanksgiving! I'm sure you did really.I enjoyed reading about Black Friday. I'd never heard of it before today when you and another, male talk about it.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment on my post about shite stalker sales clerks. And don't feel bad about your lack of enthusiasm regarding Thanksgiving. That holiday has a history filled with less than friendly and hospitable behavior ...just ask the natives. Looking forward to reading more of your posts. Consider me a new fan!

I agree with you being less that enthusiastic about Thanksgiving. You stopped by my blog last night, you should go back and read my Real History of Thanksgiving. It'll give you chills man. Keep your chin up, Americans can be jerks about things we think are right (Celebrating mass death at the hands of illegal alien terrorists). Know that not all of us are like that though!Cheers!

Don't feel bad. As a Native American I can tell you that modern Americans, like every other culture, spend half of their time beating themselves up as jerks and the other half returning the favor to other cultures.

Thanksgiving these days shouldn't be about the past, it should be sitting down to have a meal with family and friends and not only being happy with what we have, but giving back to others, too.

Thanks Daisy - a whole weekend without knives so far; cheers Robyn, the blog honor roll sounds better for sure. Glad you enjoyed it Lynne; thanks Empress, loved your piece on shop workers, I'll check it out Yakoi - thank for the follow. I agree Rick, I followed your blog, well one of them.